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Nintendo Boosts DS Shipments (News)14/12/2004 09:59:10
Nintendo has announced it will increase total shipments of Nintendo DS to North America by 40 percent, to 1.4 million systems before the end of the year. Many retailers have been reporting shortages or sell-outs shortly after the handheld launched on Nov. 21. To date, North American retail sales have reached 700,000 units, and hit over 500,000 in Japan four days after its December 2 launch. "Nintendo is doing everything it can to make Nintendo DS attainable for the holidays," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. "The enthusiastic response from shoppers has made Nintendo DS 'must-have' -- and we're determined to make it 'will have.'" The company now anticipates it will ship 2.8 million units in the U.S. and Japan by the end of this year, said Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, speaking at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. Nintendo had previously said it expected shipments in each market to reach 1 million this year. "More than 90 percent of the shipped products are sold and we are continually feeding the market with additional hardware," he said of the U.S. market. "There are some product shortages in the U.S. and the experience a week later with the Japanese launch was similar." In reaction to the strong demand, Nintendo is now planning to increase production of the device at the Chinese factories where it is made. Iwata wouldn't reveal current production levels but said the company is intending to increase production after April next year to about 1.5 million units per week and 2 million per week around periods of peak demand. Production of the DS has already dictated some of the company's strategy. Nintendo's launch of the DS in the U.S. ahead of Japan was unusual and was necessary in order to meet the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday sales periods in the U.S. If it was to launch in the U.S. before Thanksgiving, it needed to have enough units in stores to meet demand, and production levels meant that wouldn't be possible if it was also on sale in Japan. Thus, Nintendo put the Japanese launch second to match its production schedule, said Iwata. The company plans to launch the DS in Australia and Europe in the first quarter of 2005.
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